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Is she awake or is she dreaming? Reality or nightmare? Julie Compton can’t believe she’s escaped a terrible car crash… it’s impossible, in fact. A tree branch had impaled her to her seat, yet here she was, unharmed and looking … Continue reading →

Linda Acaster is a three-times mainstream published novelist and writer of over 70 short stories covering an array of genres published in the UK, USA and Europe. Her latest novel, Torc of Moonlight, she indie authored as a POD paperback, and has subsequently published two of her rights-reverted backlist novels as ebooks. I asked for her thoughts of the process of becoming a POD and an ebook author:

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=wiswor0a-21&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1906558752&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrTorc of Moonlight is a contemporary thriller with supernatural overtones, what my past agent and various publishers’ editors described as a cross-genre novel. No matter how they applauded the writing, it wasn’t going to find a UK publisher because it didn’t fall neatly into one of the industry’s pigeonholes. Such is life for the UK writer. Writers in the USA don’t have this problem. Cross-genres are embraced by a plethora of publishers, large and small, with the best novels coming across to the UK under licence and given the sort of publicity budget and self space that leaves Brit writers breathless.

But new technology is starting to level the playing field. Print On Demand paperbacks have been around for a while, but like all new technology its costs were high. In 2008 the first of the lo-cost POD publishers started up, and in 2009 Legend Press opened a POD arm, New Generation Publishing. Torc of Moonlight was sitting in a drawer, so I submitted it.

Lo-cost POD publishers work by leaving typesetting and editing to the author. They claw back their investment when a novel sells, much the same way as does a mainstream publisher, and the royalties paid to authors are similar. ‘Typesetting’ is simply a case of following instructions. Editing is a whole different matter and why self-published fiction, either as POD or ebooks, is still fighting suspicion.

I’m lucky in having a lot of experience in this field, and in being a member of a local authors’ support group which pulls no punches. However, there’s little excuse for any writer being slap-dash – it’s all down to a careful eye during proofreading. But if your writing skills are in the early-medium stages of development it could save a lot of heartache later to pay for an analysis now. No editor can make a silk purse from a sow’s ear, so handing over a full script for ‘editing’ can be an expensive flop. Sending the first 50 pages for a critique, rather than an edit, will show up flaws, and armed with that knowledge a novelist is in a better position to make future decisions. Websites such as Authonomy.com offer something similar via peer evaluation, but your writing might be at the mercy of a peer at the same stage as yourself. As a first step, though, what is there to lose?

Torc of Moonlight came out as a paperback at the end of 2009, and because it had been allotted an ISBN number it was listed in the major distribution channels: Amazon (UK and USA), Waterstone’s, WH Smith, Book Depository, but getting it onto bookshop shelves, even in my own area where the novel is set, was no easy matter. The amount of effort in gaining publicity in general should never be underestimated, a problem faced by authors of mainstream published books as well.

In January 2010 Amazon USA announced that it was opening its indie authoring ebooks scheme to those living outside of the US, and with rights already reverted to two historical romances I began the research to bring these to new readers using new technology. The Kindle e-reader uses Amazon’s proprietary AZW format as well as its own ASIN numbering system. Other formats, most notably e-Pub on its way to becoming universally accepted, are catered for by Smashwords.com which will issue a free ISBN number so a novel can be included in its premium catalogue for e-readers such as the Nook, Sony e-reader, and Apple’s new iPad. Formatting and editing is again down to the author, and the same advice as above applies.

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=wiswor0a-21&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B003MNH4BA&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrSo why an ebooks and not POD paperbacks? Hostage of the Heart, my Mediaeval Romance, won an award when it was first published; Beneath The Shining Mountains, set among Native Americans in the 1830s, sold just over 30,000 copies. Both remain very decent reads as reviews are beginning to attest, but readership patterns have changed, and continue to change at an accelerating rate. I’m no longer aiming for a reader who indulges in an easy afternoon browsing the shelves of a bookshop, but one who logs on, chooses a read, and expects it to arrive either on a PC or direct to an e-reader within a minute. This is why many indie authored ebooks are priced for impulse buying, $3 or less. Torc of Moonlight will follow in October and the good reviews I’ve gathered for the POD copy should help promote the ebook.

And sales for the Historicals? Slow, but I didn’t expect otherwise as I’m in a learning curve with publicity. However ebook readers, like POD book readers, embrace cross-genres. They are looking only for a ‘damned good read’, not a publisher’s stamp of pure-genre approval. And Amazon allows an ebook to be listed under five of its categories, more than enough for any cross-genre novelist.

Torc of Moonlight -What happens when a Celtic past reaches forward to a disbeliving present with determindation, resoursefulness and sexual avarice? First in a trilogy set in univeristy cities aruond North York Moors.